DESIGN TIPS

David Slopsema

Multiple Max Material Boundaries for the same Datum

Page 1
February 2014

In the figure below, the hole in the lower left has three different possible feature control frames. In all cases,
datum [D] is listed as a datum for this hole. We will see that the Max Material Boundary (the size of the gage pin
that would be used in a fixed gage) for datum [D] will be different depending on which of the three possible
feature control frames we use.
For the top of the three choices, the hole references only datum [D]. Therefore the hole is located and oriented to
datum [D] and to no other datums. The gage would be just two parallel pins. The part would need to slide over

DESIGN TIPS
David Slopsema

Multiple Max Material Boundaries for the same Datum

Page 2
February 2014

the pins without needing to lie flat against any surface. So the size of the datum pin (the size of the Max Material
Boundary) for datum D would be the same as the Max Material Condition size of 8-0.1=7.9
For the middle choice, the hole references datum [A] primary and datum [D] secondary. To check the part, the
part must first lie flat on datum feature [A] and then locate the hole relative to datum hole [D]. A functional gage
for checking this requirement would have a flat surface for datum feature [A] to lie on and two pins perpendicular
to [A] for locating the hole relative to datum [D]. The size of the pin for datum [D] will be the Max Material
Boundary for datum [D]. The Max Material Boundary will be combination of the Max Material Condition of
hole [D] and one of the geometric tolerances that are applied to hole [D]. Since the feature control frame for this
hole calls out datums [A] and [D] and no other datums we will use the geometric tolerance on datum [D] that
incorporates only datums [A] and [D]. Therefore the Max Material Boundary for datum [D] (the size of the
datum pin on the gage) is 8-0.1-0.15=7.75
In the bottom choice, the hole references datum [A] primary, datum [B] secondary, and datum [D] tertiary. To
check the part, the part must first lie flat on datum feature [A], locate the hole relative to datum [B], and then
locate the hole relative to datum hole [D]. A functional gage for checking this requirement would have a flat
surface for datum feature [A] to lie on, a pocket perpendicular to [A] for locating the hole relative to datum [B],
and a pin perpendicular to [A] for orienting the hole relative to datum [D]. The size of the pin for datum [D] will
be the Max Material Boundary for datum [D]. The Max Material Boundary will be combination of the Max
Material Condition of hole [D] and one of the geometric tolerances that are applied to hole [D]. Since the feature
control frame for this hole calls out datums [A] and [B] in addition to datum [D], the Max Material Boundary for
datum [D] will be calculated using the feature control frame that calls out both datums [A] and [B]. Therefore the
Max Material Boundary for datum [D] (the size of the datum pin on the gage) is 8-0.1-0.3=7.6